lõpetava

Lõpetava is a form of the Estonian present active participle of the verb lõpetama, meaning “to finish” or “to complete.” The base participle is lõpetav, and lõpetava is one of its inflected forms. Like other participles in Estonian, lõpetava functions grammatically as an adjective and agrees with the noun it modifies in number and case.

As a present active participle, lõpetava describes an agent performing the action of finishing. It can appear in attributive position before a noun, where it modifies that noun, or in constructions that form reduced relative clauses. The exact ending used for lõpetava depends on number and grammatical case, in line with how Estonian adjectives and participles decline.

In modern Estonian, present active participles such as lõpetava are most common in formal or literary styles, where they provide a compact way to express ongoing or habitual action related to finishing. They contrast with the past or perfect participle lõpetatud, which carries a completed aspect and is used in perfect tenses and passive meanings.

Etymology and related forms: lõpetava is derived from the verb lõpetama with the participial suffixes that yield a present active participle. The family also includes other participial forms, such as lõpetav (the base present participle) and lõpetatud (the past participle), each serving different syntactic functions.

See also: lõpetama, present active participle, Estonian grammar.